Govnr' Dick Hill 2010 Summary 26 July 10
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WB4APR
Participants: WB4APR Bob Bruninga
KC2UML Rory Shaffer
Bob was late due to a 1 hour round trip to get a forgotten PC
to D700 cable (not used). Bob didn't get to parking lot till
about noon and didn't get to the top of the tower and the D700
on the air till maybe 12:30. MD mountain and White Rock Cliffs
were seen immediately.
The Climb up the mountain in 106 degree effective temperature and
humidity was brutal. But then dark clouds were seen to the
north and weather reports were giving warnings for thunderstorms
with hail the size of golf balls. We waited till lightening was
under a mile away and then quickly climbed into the concrete tower
to ride out the storm. Disconnecting the antenna from the radio
takes two hands and left a good jolt through the body!
Poured down and 60 MPH winds for about 10 minutes, then drizzel
for an hour. We were back on the air in about 15 and back in
comms with MDMTN-7 and WHTRCK-6.
WHTRCK was not digipeating HOPn-N packets so we switched to their
exact call WHTRCK-6 in the path and were able to send packets down
into VA using the path HOP1-1,WHTRCK-6,AOMTN-5,MDMTN and hear them
come back.
We all made good use of text messaging. DId not even bother with
the laptop, since front panel operation was just fine.
GDHILL: D700 TX on Medium power packet and UHF:
Antenna: single dual band vertical (3 dBi and 4.5 dBi)
CQSRVR: Sent out occasional status reports on 144.39 via the
CQSRVR, but never heard anything from other stations, though we
kept forgetting to keep an APRS HT on 144.39.
LOCAL REPEATER: We also forgot to maintain a constant monitor on
our published local repeater.
Echolink: net not attempted
Received SW to MD Mtns all 9 bars packet
Received RX SW to MD Mtns all 9 bars on 445.925 voice
Could hear weak signals from WHTRCK direct, but not decode
or understand voice fully due to high level of intermod.
BATTERIES: We ran the D700 from a 20 AH gel cell. TUrns out
when we got home, and charged it at 2 amps, it was fully charged
in under an hour! So we used less than 2 AH. But we had carried
32 Amp Hours of backup batteries up the hill! A lot of that was
for the laptop that we never used... and WILL NOT USE EVER AGAIN
when we see how light we can be by just powering the D700 only.
All the HT's lasted the full event on their own batteries.
COMMENTS:
Echolink? I think this is an area where we can all learn a lot.
This is a great system for long distance coordination, but I
admit, I have never used it from the mobile either, and so we
have a lot to learn. I was unable to find a guru to write up a
good plan for us so most of us were working in the dark. But
getting those ECHOLINK and IRLP Beacons into every digipeater so
we can SEE the OPEN ones while we are mobile, makes it as simple
as 123456 to call home, and #to finish the QSO. What could be
a greater asset to the mobile operator!
This was a great second year. We will definitely plan for this
next year along with trying to get other long haul trails
interested. At Field Day, we don't get no respect, never have
in 20 years. Im tired of that. Lets make this a great annual
event for VHF and Packet!
Bob, Wb4APR